ePub The Shed ePub

by Jo Ettles

Your home is your safe haven, your body is what carries you through this life, and your thoughts determine how you feel and respond to the world. Clearing each one of these areas out and filling them with love, laughter and beauty will bring your life immense joy. Mess and disorganisation according to Feng Shui principles is thought to create blockages and stagnant energy, and it also reflects a cluttered mind. Devoting time and energy to organising your surroundings and your life enables greater productivity and the potential for anything. Like many women, I can do a hundred things at once with confidence. In order to do these one hundred things, I have to be completely organised. My home needs to be organised, my time needs to be organised, and my mind needs to be organised. I have to prioritise when it comes to distractions. Fortunately for me, I can clean my teeth and clean the bathroom mirror at the same time. I can wipe the kitchen bench whilst putting away the dishes, and I can even straighten my hair while I am having breakfast. I love multitasking, especially when it comes to general cleaning duties. I like to get the daily chores out of the way first thing. This way I am free to fill my days with more enjoyable, productive activities. I know the same mess will have re-formed and be waiting to greet me on rising the next day, so I perform these necessary rituals with extreme speed. I tend to work in time blocks during the day so I can achieve many things. My day has a beginning and an end, and the 'in-between' has a plan. The plan is filled with multiple achievements from minor to major and then when the day ends, it's tidied up and reviewed for closure over a glass of wine or two. Now don't get me wrong; there is plenty of chaos, plenty of stress and plenty of mess, but I always finish a task before I move onto the next and I try and follow my daily plan as best I can. By having a plan in my head, my mind stays clear and focused and I can achieve a plethora of activities in 24 hours. Not everyone chooses to live this way. I choose to work in time blocks because I like to get the most out of my life. There are only 24 hours in one day, and I need to fit in family time, organising everyone time, work time, friend time, food time, exercise time and meditation time. What's that old saying? "There is never enough time in a day!" Time is a precious commodity, and I like to use mine wisely. When it comes to being organised, I have friends who just wing it and fly by the seat of their pants from one day to the next. Some do it effortlessly, and some do it with gusto. I often visit one gorgeous girlfriend of mine, who shall remain nameless. Her home is filled with mess, both good and bad. If you drop in to visit Miss Messy for a mid-morning coffee when the kids are at school, she will still be in her pyjamas. Endless dirty dishes are covering her sink. There is spilt milk on bench tops, the television is blaring, and the radio is on. There are kids' toys all over the house, last night's rubbish is still waiting to be removed, dozens of books are half-read on the lounge, and washing in piles covering the floor. Everything from room to room is so wildly out of control that she doesn't know where it all begins and where it all ends. Whenever I drop in to see Miss Messy, it's like her life is on hold. Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? Every new day brings the exact repeat of the day before. There is so much mess surrounding her that she can barely take a step forward. I have only ever heard her refer to her days as being extremely challenging. She constantly complains that her life is a mess, her relationship is a mess, her kids are not coping at school, and she can't get a break. She feels like she is stuck on a merry-go-round and just can't get off.I can see how overwhelmed she is, but if you look at her world, she is surrounded by chaos. There is so much of it in her home, in her personal life, and in her